Your Guide to the Crazy, Intertwined YouTube Starscape

Oh, you’ve never heard of smoshing? Shemurr. The originators of the term, Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla, are YouTube idols. Between merch, ads, and sponsorships, intertainers (that’s internet entertainers) have gone from bedroom vloggers to multi­millionaires with digital empires. (Though as outcast PewDiePie shows, you’re just one offensive clip—or in his case nine—away from disgrace.) As a fresh stack of YouTuber-­penned books hits shelves this year—IISuper­womanII’s How to Be a Bawse, Rachel Ballinger’s 101 Things That Piss Me Off, Ryan Higa’s untitled opus—the platform’s stars are converting cultlike fan followings into cash.